Buried water line

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Mar3232

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I have a separate garage just 20 feet away from the house and possibly want to run a water line underground to get to it. (If I can find the right guy with a bobcat or trencher) Wonder if I can get a guy for 300 bucks or so to do it? Or less? It's a straight shot -- no issues. No trees etc.

Anyway -- my question is I understand getting it below the frost line but what do you do when you actually come UP to the garage (through the slab floor I would imagine right? (Or could there be any way I could avoid that and come up through one of the outside walls? --cinder block to the wall-- sure would make life easier).

But what do you do to protect the pipe as it rises above the frost line? Just insulate the heck out of it or what?

And I guess the way to go is an HDPE (I think) plastic line? 3/4" ? -- thanks again for the help
 

Mar3232

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Yeah thinking of renting a trencher. Do you think the PEX would be ok if I dug on the side of the garage, and came up along the footings/slab into the cinder block and the outside stud wall? I don't know how deep the footings are but wondering if I can just chop out a portion of the top slab and try to go under and through the cinder block? Then more insulation and some protection for the PEX? -- thanks

Is 350 or 400 more like it for someone to dig you think? By the time I rent may as well pay someone -- plus friggin' arthritis
 

Reach4

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If you insulate the pipe outside, you will want to not have insulation between the pipe and the heated garage. I wonder if you could drill (maybe at an angle) through the garage slab and intercept a trench.

Check CL under service and try each of these search words: excavator, trenching, backhoe. Example: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/search/bbb?query=backhoe&sort=rel
 

CountryBumkin

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I think the price to trench is more dependent on local conditions. How hungry are the locals? How hard is the soil? In FL it would probably take less than an hour to dig a 20ft trench 24" deep by hand. Of course the depth of your trench depends on your climate/area.

Do you have electric in the garage now? If, not you may consider running conduit for an underground feed at the same time.
I'm not a pro and I don't live in a climate where things freeze - but I would think you could run the PEX up the side of garage a foot or two then enter garage (rather than try to drill through slab). If you did this you would want to be sure to protect pipe (box it in) from any impact and maybe use some additional insulation.

It is probably worth a call to a local plumber to see what they suggest - and maybe they can do the trenching too.
 

Mar3232

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The garage will be heated. Not sure I understand what you mean reach4. I suppose the way it should be done is to go under the footings through a hole you make in the slab?

This is something on a limited budget I have to get done -- converting garage into living area -- my original plan was a water tank but just want to look at running a pipe also.
 

Reach4

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The garage will be heated. Not sure I understand what you mean reach4. I suppose the way it should be done is to go under the footings through a hole you make in the slab?
I was not trying to imply that I know "the right way". I am not a pro and I don't speak from experience in this.

That said, you don't know what I mean by what? The freeze map? There is a distance that water pipes should be buried to avoid freezing. Those numbers from that map seem awfully big. Maybe that map is not the right thing to use for the purpose. It does show that the required distance is not the same everywhere. The local code making authorities set a number.
 

Mar3232

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I knew all about the freeze line -- question was best approach to install. thanks.
 
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